One Day I'll Fly Away
by Dance of the Dead
Summary: Escaping from the Templars was never going to be an easy feat for a new apostate, but throw emotional feelings into the fray and it's down right impossible.
1. Chapter 1

Anders hurried; there was a matter of great urgency that demanded his attention. A matter that he couldn't ignore no matter how much he tried. Just over two years ago an underground mage railroad had been shut down by the over watchful eyes of the Knight-Commander, but that didn't mean he couldn't help free mages wherever he could. He'd just received word that a mage living in the Kirkwall Gallows was in desperate need of a route out of the city or would be spending the rest of her living days as a emotionless Tranquil. Whereas in the past he'd been forced to turn a grudging blind eye to individual cases this one was one closer to home; she was a mage from the Ferelden Circle of Magi, someone he may well have known during his time there. He couldn't let the right of Tranquillity happen to someone he might know. Not again.

The Gallows courtyard was it's usual hub of activity, various Tranquil sold their wares at small stores overlooked by their Templar guardians. While others browsed and chatted in small groups. The place was not an area of Kirkwall that Anders would ever find himself happy to be in. The only reason he found himself here now was due to the letter he'd received. Somewhat out of breath from the climb of the stairs he headed over to one of the darker corners of the courtyard where he could lounge with relative ease and watch those gathered and wait for the mage in question to seek him out.

People watching was often an enlightening thing to do, observing the habits of others and the more unusual members of the Circle of Magi often brought more questions than it answered. Why they let themselves become the objects of such scrutiny and oppression was the most burning of the questions; a question that he knew better to dwell on while stood in the Gallows. So intent in watching two mages gossiping Anders didn't notice the approach of two others until they were in front of him.

"Anders." A male spoke first, his voice was deep and smooth. He was rather non-descript, his skin dark, his hair thin with age; flecked with salt and pepper tones. More remarkable was the long beard he had, which was a startling new addition to his image.

Anders nodded back to the male giving the accompanying woman a quick glance. The fact they both wore Circle robes sent tides of anger rippling through him, which he carefully bit down before they visibly surfaced.

"Good to see you again, Pierre." Anders said offering his hand to the other man, civil.

"And you." He replied taking the handshake for what is was.

"And this is her?" Anders asked, looking to the woman beside Pierre, her head was lowered and Anders couldn't make out much about her aside the beautiful shade of her caramel hair. The fact she was rather small in height and structure wasn't lost on him and the way she was standing made her seem all the meeker.

When she heard that she was being spoken about she lifted her head and Anders was taken aback by the startling, electric blue of her eyes. She was a pretty little thing and even though the spirit within him was urging him to focus harder on the reason he was here, he couldn't help but be thankful that he would be able to help free such a mage.

"I am Sparrow." She answered, her voice light and pleasant,she then offered him her hand just as he had done to Pierre. The name was obviously a nickname or a cover for the young woman, just as his own was.

Anders nodded, "Apleasure." He said as he took her hand. "We shouldn't linger." He added.

Sparrow turned back to Pierre as Anders took a step away from her fellow mage. "Thank you for your sacrifice." She said to him with a hint of sadness to her voice. She didn't know exactly what Pierre had done to get her in contact with Anders, she just knew it wouldn't be good for him. The elder man just nodded to her, and she once again hung her head, taking a few quick steps to catch up with Anders. She couldn't help but feel a rising anticipation growing within her. The only other time she had left the Circle was to transfer to the city of Kirkwall, and that was under armed escort. She'd thought that leaving the Gallows would have been a lot harder that it was, that there would be some sort of check when she got to the last step of the staircase; there was nothing. She should have known better. She had left many times before to be about the city on business or to give devotion to Andraste. The only difference this time was that she was running away, never to return.

Anders looked over his shoulder to the young woman as he led her through the alleyways of Hightown, his hand darted out as he stopped her walking into the path of one of the Templars Knight-Lieutenants. Sparrow gasped and caught her breath, while Anders watched them pass. When they were clear he carried on walking silently through the streets of Hightown. Sparrow couldn't help but fear that she had already done something to upset the male who escorted her; his silence didn't fit the description she'd been given of Anders.

Her mind was afire as the silence continued through their somewhat rushed journey through the streets, she heard Anders cursing under his breath as someone approached them; and fear shot through her. So much for not getting caught! She dreaded to think her fate and found the idea of throwing herself on the Knight-Commanders sword to be the most pleasant version her rapidly panicking mind could think of.

"Hey, Anders." Called the male voice, cheerful as he made his way over to where they were walking. Clearly on an intercept course with them. Sparrow couldn't help but note the large bow strapped to his back and the lack of Templar armour relieved her greatly. "It's been a while, where have you been? And you lucky man who is this pretty little lady?" Attention quickly turned to Sparrow.

"Hawke." Anders nodded to the rogue. "Oh, you know, working, keeping out of trouble; that whole low profile thing." He mused as the other mans loud words made passing eyes linger.

"Wishful thinking when you know me." Hawke moved to hang his arm around Anders shoulder uncomfortably. "But you didn't answer the most important question." He eyed Sparrow. "Introduction please." He pressured.

Anders coughed, wriggling free from the arm that had intruded his personal space. "This is Sparrow. Sparrow, this is Hawke. He isn't worth knowing, really."

Hawke looked to Anders, feigning hurt.

"I see." Sparrow commented looking over the man, her words hanging tightly in the air as she made an evaluation of the rogue giving none of her thoughts away.

"Well?" Hawke questioned her his hand motioning down his body. "Like what you see?" He dared to ask.

Sparrow just shook her head in despair for the man; her eyes rolling.

"I think that means no." Anders jested at Hawkes expense.

"Anders, that look just means she's not warmed up to me yet, give it time she'll come around." He persisted.

"Time is something we do not have." Anders commented, wanting to be away from the brash man for his own sanity.

Hawke nodded and moved so that the two could be past them, and before they were out of hearing range yelled; "Have good sex!"

Sparrow dared to look back over her shoulder once more, and saw Hawke waving at them, giving her a wink. Anders led her around the corner before he spoke again; "I am sorry about Hawke, he thinks he has the right to any pretty woman in Kirkwall." He stated, and she could see the faint traces of a blush to his cheeks. "And man for that matter." He added.

"It's all right. You can't control your friends." Sparrow spoke softly. "But thank you."

"What for?" Anders asked, frowning.

"Calling me pretty." She said with sly smile towards him.

The only answer she was given was an uncertain nod, she hadn't been expecting anything more.

The steps of Lowtown gave way to the slum of Darktown as Anders led his charge to somewhere she would be safe while he secured her way out of the city.

The place she had been led to was in a part of Kirkwall Sparrow had never entered before, and the vast network of darkened alleyways and tunnels felt like a labyrinth. She was glad to have Anders showing her the way, or she would be redoubtably lost by now. She'd been led to an out of the way area of Darktown illuminated through the pressing gloom by a tattered lantern hung over the door. Once the door was open Anders ushered her inside, gave Darktown a last look over to ensure they hadn't been followed and then locked the door.

"You live here?" Sparrow asked looking over the meagre lodgings, crestfallen.

"I can't afford a silver service, but I get cakes delivered on a weekly basis which don't taste too bad if you ignore the mould growing on them." He uttered defensively, leaning his staff against one of the rooms support pillars.

"I am sorry, I meant no disrespect." She hurried waving her hands "I just expected something more. Well, something you'd be able to hide behind." She explained herself with a frown. "If the Templars caught you harbouring an Apostate." Sparrow let the words hang.

"If the Templars caught me the last thing they'd be interested in is my harbouring a run-away." Anders said with a smile to the idea. "My friends do what they can to keep me hidden. You can put your belongings down somewhere there isn't too much dirt." He tried to make her feel at home.

"What belongings?" Sparrow asked with a shrug. "I came as me, I don't have anything else. The Circle took it."

"Right. Sorry." Anders said apologetically. "Should have known better."

"I don't like to jump to hastily to conclusions, but I take it you're an apostate to?" She ventured.

"No. I am a free man. Apostate is a title that the Chantry forces onto us when we don't bend to their will." He answered weightily.

Sparrow nodded. "How long have you been a free man?" She asked, looking for somewhere to sit down and settled on top of a box.

"I don't..." Anders commented looking out of the window, the conversation heavy to shoulder.

"I am going about this all wrong aren't I?" Sparow asked, looking down and giving a light sigh. "I never was too good at the small talk business."

"Information holds power, Sparrow. I don't know if I can trust you, I don't even know who you are." He explained looking back to her. "I thought with you originally being from the Ferelden tower I might, but I don't."

"You were in Ferelden? Were you there when the Circle was attacked by abominations?" She asked, bringing up the only real big event from the Ferelden Circle in recent years.

"Yes and no. I managed to get away before that happened. Were you?" He asked.

Sparrow nodded. "It was horrible," her voice wavered as she spoke the words. "I never understood what drove them to those terrible things, until now."

"Desperation drives us to things we thought we were never capable of, but making a pact with a demon isn't the answer." Anders shook his head.

Sparrow looked to him sharply, trying to see if she was being tested. "I just meant that... I never saw what the Templars were capable of until now. I'd never..." She urged her innocence against Blood Magic.

"Then why the rite?" Anders asked.

"The Knight-Commander sees heresy everywhere." Sparrow answered. "Even in places it's not. She has gone mad with power! Surely you already know this?" She got to her feet, pacing as they spoke.

"Of course I do!" Came the reply. "What did she see you doing?"

"I had some books in my room, all from the sanctioned library, but the combination of them apparently pointed towards demon summoning." She spoke hotly, not wanting to believe, yet somehow doing so.

"I get the feeling we're arguing over the same point." Anders said watching Sparrow walking up and down; within the mentality of Vengeance threatening to surface, press his anger onto her and he tried his best to calm himself before it erupted.

"You're right." Sparrow said as she stopped walking. "I want to thank you." She added. "You're doing a lot for me which my words aren't enough to show my gratitude." She looked to him and it was his turn to face away from her.

"I can only do my best, Knight-Commander Meredith shut down my network, but I still have some contacts I can exploit. You'll fly free soon enough Sparrow." He promised even though Vengeance warned him not to tangle to deeply with the apostate.


	2. Chapter 2

Sparrow woke up with a start, something felt deeply wrong. Through the fog of sleep she heard the something that had twisted her from her slumber. Instinctively she reached her hand out for a staff that wasn't where it should be. Gone. Left behind in her old room at the Tower. She cursed under her breath. She'd been given a small secluded corner of Anders clinic mostly hidden from view by a stack of tall boxes. Carefully she peered through a small gap in the make-shift wall, spied the staff belonging to Anders resting against one of the pillars. Her heart was pounding as she heard a mumbling, moaning sound coming from inside of the clinic itself.

Taking a deep breath in Sparrow mustered all the courage that she could and darted out from her hiding place and grabbed the staff, then turned on whoever had entered the clinic in search of her. Only to see Anders lying on the floor captured in his own private nightmare. She took a hesitant step towards the tormented man; lines across his body glowed hot, vibrant blue; Sparrow gasped to the oddity. Taking a step back from him, her unrestricted inhale had awoken him from the nightmare, his eyes momentarily glowing the same horrific blue.

Sparrow was breathing hard, the fear for what her saviour had become; the unknown, more than evident on her terrified features.

Anders rose a hand to his forehead as he wriggled into a sitting position, he wiped away the sweat dripping down his face. It took him a moment to realise that his own staff was being held towards him. Quickly he shot up out from underneath the blanket and held his hands out towards Sparrow.

"What was that!" She demanded, her voice sounding harsher than she ever thought possible.

Anders looked over Sparrow, distracted.

It was in that moment that she realised she was dressed on only her small clothes and she felt a heat rising to her cheeks that she couldn't stop.

"I... I'm so sorry," Anders hurriedly spoke, turning his eyes from her towards the floor. Trying to hide his own embarrassment.

Having decided that she was in no immediate danger she quickly dipped back behind the stacked boxes. Despite her trembling she wanted to hear the man who'd liberated her from the Tower had to say about himself. The mystery piqued her interest, she had a strange taste for the danger he possessed. She was curious, but not trusting enough to return his staff to him.

Sparrow emerged having dressed herself in the robes she'd escaped the Tower in the day before, struggling to tie the complicated weave of belts and hold the staff at the same time.

"What happened?" Sparrow asked again. "You... glowed?" She pressed as she went to sit on one of the lower boxes. She couldn't be sure he would know what she was trying to say. The look on his face was a give away.

"I'm possessed," he answered, honestly.

"A demon!" Sparrow hurried before he could explain any further.

"No, a Spirit of Justice," he corrected her. No tone of resentment or chastisement in his voice. "We were once friends; he was trapped outside the fade and the body he inhabited was failing. He needed a new host and I offered the service." It was a tale that he'd told a few times in recent years, but they never got any easier to speak to someone for the first time. "I didn't mean to frighten you."

Sparrow wasn't entirely sure how to answer and she paused before speaking, "Is that what gave you the nightmares?" She asked, her fear being replaced with concern.

"No," he replied, all the while keeping his eyes cast down to the floor. Ashamed for his actions, now and in the past. "I was once a Grey Warden." There was a heavy, grim seriousness that lingered over their conversation, and despite herself, Sparrow couldn't help but answer more cheerfully to try and lift some of the tension.

"At least something good came out of all of this." She mused, trying to find his face to make some eye-contact with the long faced man.

Anders looked up, right into the startling blue eyes that were searching for his. "What's that?" He asked tersely, thinking she was making light of his troubles.

"You got to see me mostly naked," she couldn't help but give him a warming smile. She moved to give him his staff back. Showing that despite what had happened, the shock that he'd caused her she was still willing to place her life in his hand. To depend on him, and to trust him.

"And I won't be forgetting that any time soon," he returned to her with equally flirtatious tone of voice, and she managed to take the compliment without blushing. The more serious levels of the conversation could continue another time.

Sparrow felt an intense feeling of relief that Anders could sense the humour behind her words and the innocence of her teasing and now she'd discovered this fact; she wasn't going to leave it alone.

"I should get some rest." Anders interjected apologetically. "I have a long day ahead of me at the clinic tomorrow," he explained.

Sparrow nodded and rose from where she had been settled. "If you want, I can help you?" She asked. "I mean, I'm not a perfect healer, not my a long mile," she hastened to add.

Anders stood from his own box and answered. "Thank you." There was a weariness to the words that made Sparrow simply smile back to him, and move behind the box.

"Oh!" She called out once she was mostly out of view. "And I got to see you topless." She added, which brought forth a light laugh from the man.


End file.
